Elvis '56 - In the Beginning

With the Band's Levon Helm narrating in his salty Arkansas drawl, the story effectively conveys Elvis's Southern perspective, while evocative use of Alfred Wertheimer's celebrated black-and-white still portraits sustains a visual style carrying over to the program's real high points: early stage and television appearances by Presley and his original trio, later augmented into a quartet. Among the highlights are historic slots on Milton Berle's and Steve Allen's variety shows: we see the joyous physicality that made the Berle performance a topic of outrage (and, of course, a swoon-worthy moment for female fans), as well as Allen's glib solution to censors' worries, forcing a static, tail-coated Presley to sing "Hound Dog" to a basset hound. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description
1956 was elvis presleys breakthrough year and this prgram takes you back including his early television performances on the dorsey brothers show and the ed sullivan show where the cameramen were instructed not to shoot the lower half of his body and an entire hour of rare footage and performances. Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Narrated By Levon Helm Run time: 61 minutes Rating: Nr